Application development using multiple primary user interfaces

ABSTRACT

Generally discussed herein are techniques, software, apparatuses, and systems configured for application development for an application using multiple primary user interfaces. In one or more embodiments, a method can include receiving data indicating a plurality of workflow activities to be used in an application, each of the workflow activities including data corresponding to a configuration of a view model module and a list of views to be associated with the configuration, receiving data indicating a plurality of primary user interface views to associate with each of the workflow activities, receiving data indicating a connection between two of the workflow activities of the plurality of workflow activities, and producing an application model based on the received data indicating the plurality of workflow activities, the data indicates the connection between two of the workflow activities and the data indicating the plurality of primary user interface views.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.14/987,809 for Application Development Using Multiple Primary UserInterfaces, filed on Jan. 5, 2016, which claims the benefit of andpriority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/101,203 forApplication Development Using Multiple Primary User Interfaces, filed onJan. 8, 2015, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by referencein their entirety.

BACKGROUND

Modern mobile devices may be used by workers in performing their jobduties. The primary means of interacting with applications on thesemobile devices is through the touchscreen (e.g., display and virtualkeyboard). The development paradigm for these devices tends to focussolely on the touchscreen as the primary means of input and output withsome applications including voice dialog as a secondary means ofinteracting with an application.

SUMMARY

In one or more embodiments, an apparatus can include a workflow activityrepository including a plurality of workflow activities stored thereon,wherein each workflow activity of the plurality of workflow activitiesincludes data corresponding to a configuration of a view model moduleand a list of views to be associated with the configuration, the datacauses the view model module to perform one or more operations thatcause a plurality of views of the list of views to be presented onmultiple primary user interfaces in response to the data being loadedinto the view model module, and an application development modulecommunicatively coupled to the workflow activity repository, wherein theapplication development module is configured to cause a view of anapplication being built using the application development module to bedisplayed to a user, the application development module configured toprovide an environment in which a user defines connections betweenworkflow activities of the plurality of workflow activities and producean application model based on the user-defined connections and theworkflow activities connected by the connections.

In one or more embodiments, a method can include receiving, at anapplication development environment, data indicating a plurality ofworkflow activities to be used in an application, each of the workflowactivities including data corresponding to a configuration of a viewmodel module and a list of views to be associated with theconfiguration, receiving, at the application development environment,data indicating a plurality of primary user interface views to associatewith each of the workflow activities, receiving, at the applicationdevelopment environment, data indicating a connection between two of theworkflow activities of the plurality of workflow activities, andproducing an application model based on the received data indicating theplurality of workflow activities, the data indicates the connectionbetween two of the workflow activities and the data indicating theplurality of primary user interface views.

In one or more embodiments, a non-transitory computer readable medium(e.g., storage device) can include instructions stored thereon that,when executed by a machine, configure the machine to perform operationscomprising receiving data indicating a plurality of workflow activitiesto be used in an application, each of the workflow activities includingdata corresponding to a configuration of a view model module and a listof views to be associated with the configuration, receiving dataindicating a plurality of primary user interface views to associate witheach of the workflow activities, receiving data indicating a connectionbetween two of the workflow activities of the plurality of workflowactivities, and producing an application model based on the receiveddata indicating the plurality of workflow activities, the data indicatesthe connection between two of the workflow activities and the dataindicating the plurality of primary user interface views.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the drawings, which are not necessarily drawn to scale, like numeralscan describe similar components in different views. Like numerals havingdifferent letter suffixes can represent different instances of similarcomponents. The drawings illustrate generally, by way of example, butnot by way of limitation, various embodiments discussed in the presentdocument.

FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of a conventional application displaysystem.

FIG. 2 illustrates, by way of example, a block diagram of an embodimentof a multi-view system.

FIG. 3 illustrates, by way of example, a flow diagram of applicationstates of a generic application.

FIG. 4 illustrates, by way of example, a block diagram of an embodimentof a use case including a user using multiple primary UIs.

FIG. 5 illustrates, by way of example, a flow diagram of an embodimentof a method of using a multi-view system.

FIG. 6 illustrates, by way of example, a block diagram of an embodimentof a multi-view system.

FIG. 7 illustrates a flow diagram of operating system stacks using thesystem to execute an application

FIG. 8 illustrates, by way of example, a flow diagram of an embodimentof navigation stack states.

FIG. 9 illustrates, by way of example, a flow diagram of an embodimentof OS stack states.

FIG. 10 illustrates, by way of example, an embodiment of a visual viewof an application that includes directing the user to perform aplurality of tasks.

FIG. 11 illustrates, by way of example, a flow diagram of an embodimentof a method of handling one or more stacks.

FIG. 12 illustrates, by way of example, a block diagram of an embodimentof a system for application development.

FIG. 13 illustrates, by way of example, a block diagram of an embodimentof a UI for application development.

FIG. 14 illustrates, by way of example, a flow diagram of an embodimentof a method for application development.

FIG. 15 illustrates, by way of example, a block diagram of an embodimentof a machine which may be used in performing one or more methodologiesdiscussed herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

While embodiments of this disclosure can take many different forms,specific embodiments thereof are shown in the figures and will bedescribed herein in detail with the understanding that the presentdisclosure is to be considered as embodiments of the principles of thedisclosure, as well as the best mode of practicing the same, and is notintended to limit the disclosure to the specific embodimentsillustrated.

Software applications for mobile device can have a one-to-onerelationship between an application state and an interactive viewpresented to the user, such as through a user interface (UI). Thisone-to-one relationship can limit the ability of an applicationdeveloper in adding another mode of interaction and can make it moredifficult or even prohibit adding another primary mode of interaction.This paradigm of interfacing with an application via one primaryinterface can be restrictive.

Using this one-to-one paradigm, adding other modes of interaction suchas voice, scanning, or motion can be achieved through supplementing theprimary mode with a secondary mode, the touchscreen. As a consequence,the developer is limited to the design layout of the primary mode. Ifthe primary mode is unavailable, the additional modes of interaction donot make sense or are also unavailable. Creating an effectivesupplementary voice dialogue view can be difficult under theselimitations. Difficulties are met when trying to allow more than onemode to be in control of the application's state at the same time, suchas a visual view and a voice dialogue view.

Discussed herein are embodiments that can include a UI abstraction thatcan overcome one or more of the limitations of the one-to-one paradigm.The UI abstraction can be used to decouple an application state from amode of interaction. Such an abstraction can provide flexibility andversatility to an application developer. By creating a UI abstraction,such as for input and output, multiple UI objects can be active and ableto control the application's state at the same time. For example, a GUI(graphical user interface) and VUI (voice user interface) can coexist tointerface with the application.

One UI view can be associated with one or more application states, andthat view can be different than other views for that same applicationstate. In this way, an application developer can define multiple,separate independent views for each application state and/or multipleprimary independent user interfaces can be enabled. The dependency ofthe application to a primary mode of operation can be eliminated and theinteraction mode of the application can be decoupled from theapplication.

Multiple primary UIs can be accomplished by associating multiple viewswith an application state, giving an N:1 view to application stateratio, where N is the number of primary UI views. Each view for a statecan be active simultaneously. Each view can access the application,retrieving or sending information to or from the application. Theinformation received from one view can be reflected in all currentlyactive views. In an embodiment that includes voice dialogue and visualviews, there can be two views that have simultaneous access to theapplication, such as to have the ability to cause the application stateto change.

What follows is a discussion of a prior application display systemfollowed by a discussion of a display system in accord with one or moreembodiments, then a discussion of how one or more navigation stacks canbe managed, and then a discussion of some application developmenttechniques is presented.

FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of a conventional application displaysystem 100. The system 100 as illustrated includes an application 102, aprimary UI 104, and a secondary UI 106.

As used herein a “primary UI” is a UI though which a user can directlyalter the state of an application independent of any other UI. A“secondary UI” is a UI through which a user can input data into aspecific field of the primary UI. The secondary UI does not alter thestate of an application, but is dependent on another UI (i.e. theprimary UI) to update the state of an application. Using multipleprimary UIs, a user can directly alter the application state using anyone of the primary UIs. Using multiple primary UIs, a user candeactivate (e.g., disable or power off) one of the other primary UIs andcan continue to alter the state of the application directly using theremaining active primary UIs. In the case of a secondary UI coupled witha primary UI, if the primary UI is deactivated or disabled, a user willnot be able to alter the state of the application using the secondary UIor the primary UI.

The primary UI 104 is required for a user to alter an application stateof the application 102. The user can interact with the application 102using the secondary UI 106, but only via the primary UI 104. Forexample, consider a mobile device that includes a touch screen as aprimary UI and a voice dialogue as a secondary UI. A user can speak acommand into the voice dialogue, such as “get directions home”. Thevoice dialogue can then be translated into commands that are issued bythe primary user interface to the application. If the primary UI 104 isdeactivated or disabled, the secondary UI 106 will not be able to accessthe application 102, thus making it impossible for the user to interactwith the application 102 using only the voice dialogue (i.e. thesecondary UI 106 in this example).

Multiple Primary UIS

FIG. 2 illustrates, by way of example, a block diagram of an embodimentof a multi-view system 200. The multi-view system 200 as illustratedincludes an application 102 and a plurality of primary UIs 204A, 204B,and 204C. The application 202 as illustrated includes a plurality ofview modules 206A, 206B, and 206C communicatively coupled to respectiveprimary UIs 204A-C. The view modules 206A-C are each communicativelycoupled to a view model module 208 through the connections 212A, 214A,and 216A, 212B, 214B, and 216B, and 212C, 214C, and 216C, respectively.The view model module 208 is communicatively coupled to a model 210(e.g., application logic) through the connection 216. The view modules206A-C may be referred to in the industry as “views” and the view modelmodule 208 may be referred to in the industry as a “view model”. Themodel 210 may be implemented as a module.

The application 202 can be any software application that can benefitfrom or use multiple primary UIs 204A-C. The application 202 can providea workflow of instructions to a worker, for example. For example, theapplication 202 can provide a workflow for diagnosing or fixing an issuewith a vehicle or other equipment, picking merchandise from a shelf,such as in a warehouse, retail store, etc., a video game in which a usercan issue commands in multiple ways, such as using two or more of voice,a keyboard, a joystick, etc., a data entry application, or a textediting application, among others. The application 202 can be embodiedin the form of instructions stored on a storage device, such as a readonly memory (ROM) a random access memory (RAM), or a combinationthereof, and executable by a processor of a machine.

The view modules 206A-C can provide data, such as through the connection218A, 218B, and 218C, respectively, to the primary UIs 204A-C that causethe UIs 204A-C to render a view of an application state of theapplication 202. The view of the application 202 provided by the UI204A-C can include a voice dialogue view, a visual view, or acombination thereof. The voice dialogue view can be presented to a userthrough a UI 204A-C that includes a speaker and microphone. The user canprovide data, instruction, or confirmation to the UI 204A-C through themicrophone and the UI 204A-C can provide the user data, instruction, orconfirmation through the speaker. The visual view can include a UI204A-C that includes a display and keyboard (e.g., a touchscreen and avirtual or hardware keyboard or a non-tactile screen coupled to ahardware keyboard), a printer that can display or print (on paper) oneor more instructions, images, and/or other text and/or receive userinput through a keyboard (e.g., keypad or touchscreen) coupled thereto,a monitor or other display (e.g., a remote monitor, a secondary monitor,a projector and projector screen, or the like), and/or a barcode scanner(e.g., a one-dimensional or multi-dimensional barcode scanner, such as aUniversal Product Code (UPC) or Quick Response (QR) code scanner) thatincludes a display (e.g., a touch screen or non-tactile display) and/ora keyboard (e.g., a keypad, a virtual keyboard, or a hardware keyboard)coupled thereto.

The view module 206A-C is not required to provide both input and output.For example, a screen does not need to be paired with a keyboard,scanner, and/or touchpad. The view module 206A-C can provide outputonly, such as a screen, printer, speaker, Light Emitting Diode (LED), orthe like. A separate view module can take input for the application,such as a touch screen, scanner, voice, pressure sensor, accelerator,temperature sensor, proximity sensor, or the like. The view module206A-C may provide input, output, or both input and output for theapplication 202. The application 202 may have any number of viewmodules, none of which know about any of the other view modules.

The view modules 206A-C can receive information from the primary UIs204A-C and translate the information from the UIs 204A-C into a commandand/or data to be sent to the view model module 208, such as by usingthe connections 212A-C, 214A-C, and/or 216A-C. For example, if a userenters data into a field using the UI 204A-C, the data received can beconverted into a format compatible with the view model module 208. Theview module 206A-C can indicate to the view model module 208 the fieldin which the data was added. The view model module 208 determines, usingthe model 210, an action (if any) to take in receiving information fromthe UI 204A-C through the view module 206A-C. The model 210 includeslogic to determine a state of the application 202 (see FIG. 3 for asimplified flow diagram of application state logic, in accord with oneor more embodiments).

The view model module 208 determines instructions (e.g., a requestand/or data) to be provided to the view module 206A-C so that the UI204A-C communicatively coupled to the respective view module 206A-Cprovides a view of the application state consistent with the currentstate of the application 202, as determined by the application model210.

FIG. 3 illustrates, by way of example, a flow diagram of applicationstates 300 of a generic application, such as the application 202. FIG. 4illustrates, by way of example, an embodiment of a use case including auser 400 with the UIs 204A-C. When the application 202 is launchedand/or initialized, a welcome state 302 can be entered. The welcomestate 302 can include respective views from each of the primary UIs204A-C that are rendered by the view modules 206A-C. In the example ofFIG. 4, the UI 204A includes a barcode scanner and a display, the UI204B includes a microphone and a speaker, and the UI 204C includes atouch screen and virtual keyboard. The UIs 204A and 204C can display toa user some visual indication that the application has launched, such astext or other graphic. The UI 204B can indicate to the user, through aspeaker, that the application has launched, such as by announcing“welcome” or the like. The visual UIs 204A and 204C can indicate thatthe user confirmation is required to move onto the next applicationstate or the next application state 304, (i.e. select user) can beentered through a specified period of time elapsing since theapplication state 302.

The voice dialogue UI 204B can indicate to the user through soundsemanated through the speaker that a confirmation is required. After theuser confirms using any one of the UIs 204A-C (or the specified periodof time has elapsed), the model 210 can indicate that the application202 is now in application state 304 (“select user”). The view modelmodule 208 can provide data and/or a request to the view modules 206A-Cthat indicates a configuration of the view to be rendered by the UIs204A-C. The UIs 204A-C can then provide respective views of theapplication state 304 “select user”. In the application state 304 theuser can be prompted to identify himself, such as by providing ausername or other identification. The identification can be providedverbally to a microphone of the UI 204B or through a user entering theinformation using a keyboard, selecting a user from a list of userspresented using the UI 204A or 204C, or scanning a code using thebarcode scanner.

In response to a valid username being entered, the next applicationstate 306 (i.e. “enter password”) can be entered, such as by the viewmodule 206A-C providing data indicating the user to the view modelmodule 208 which can then update the model 210. The model 210 can thenindicate to the view model module 208 what the next application stateis, which in the example of FIG. 3 is the “enter password” applicationstate 306. The view model module 208 can provide data and/or requests tothe view module(s) 206A-C to cause them to render respective views ofthe application state on the UIs 204A-C. This process can continue sothat the remaining application states, perform tasks 308 and logout 310,can be viewed and interacted with by a user.

If one of the UIs 204A-C is deactivated (e.g., disabled or powered off)the remaining active UIs can be interacted with to alter the applicationstate. Using the system 200, the application 202 can operate independentof the number or type of primary UIs 204A-C coupled to the application202. Any UI can be coupled to the application 202 as long as acorresponding view module is coupled to the view model module 208 todrive the UI. Such a configuration allows for a variety of new anddifferent UIs to be coupled to the application to provide views of theapplication state.

An application developer can configure a workflow activity managermodule to enable or disable a view for each application state and definethe view module(s) and view model module(s) associated with theapplication stat. A workflow activity is used to configure which viewmodel module and view(s) is associated with a given application state.The view model module is independent of the view modules that arecoupled thereto. The workflow activity manager can provide data to causethe view module 206A-C to enable/disable the associated view provided bythe primary UI 204A-C coupled to the respective view module 206A-C.Thus, one or more views of the application state may persist acrossapplication state changes while one or more views may be disabled inresponse to an application state change. For example, a voice dialogueview can persist through an application state change, while a visualview may be disabled in response to the application state changing, orvice versa. If a view is disabled, the user can no longer alter theapplication state through interacting with the primary UI 204A-Cassociated with that disabled view.

The view provided by a primary UI 204A-C may persist (i.e. may notchange) across an application state change while a view provided byanother primary UI 204A-C may change across the same application statechange. For example, using an application that includes filling out aform that includes multiple fields to be filled in by the user, thevisual view of the form can persist across an application state changewhile the dialogue view of the application state changes across the sameapplication state change or vice versa.

FIG. 5 illustrates, by way of example, a flow diagram of an embodimentof a method 500 of using a multi-view system, such as the system 200.The method 500 as illustrated includes: providing first data to a firstprimary UI at operation 502; providing second data to a second primaryUI at operation 504; changing an application state at operation 506; andproviding data to change the view provided by the first and secondprimary UIs at operation 508. The operation at 502 can be accomplishedusing the view module 206A-C. The view module 206A-C can provide data tothe first primary UI 204A-C that causes the first primary UI to providea first view of an application state of a software application. Theoperation at 504 can be accomplished using a second view module 206A-C.The second view module 206A-C can send data to the second primary UI204A-C that causes the second primary UI 204A-C to provide a second viewof the application simultaneously with the first view.

The operation at 508 can be performed in response to the operation at506 being performed. The operation at 506 can be performed by the model210 using application logic to update the application state andproviding the updated application state to the view model module 208.The operation at 508 can be accomplished by providing data, from thefirst and second view modules 206A-C and to the first and second primaryUIs 204A-C that causes the first and second primary UIs to provide viewsof the updated application state. The view provided by the secondprimary UI 204A-C (i.e. the second view) can be provided simultaneouslywith the view provided by the first primary UI 204A-C (i.e. the firstview).

The method 500 can include providing, such as by using a third viewmodule 206A-C, third data to a third primary UI 204A-C that causes thethird primary UI 204A-C to provide a third view of an application stateof a software application simultaneously with the first and secondviews. The method 500 can include providing, in response to changing theapplication state, data to the third primary UI 204A-C (i.e. from thethird view module 206A-C) to cause the third primary UI to provide athird view of the new application state simultaneously with the firstand second views.

The views (i.e. the views provided by the first, second, and/or thirdprimary UIs 204A-C) can include a visual view and/or a voice dialogueview. A visual view can be provided by a UI that includes a display. Aninput mechanism, such as a keyboard, scanner, or touch screen, can beused to receive information from a user interacting with the UI thatprovides a visual view. A voice dialogue view can be provided by a UIthat includes a speaker. An input mechanism, such as a microphone and avoice recognition module, can be used to receive information from a userinteracting with the UI that provides the voice dialogue view.

The method 500 can include receiving at the view model module 208 dataentered using the first primary UI 204A-C. The method 500 can includeproviding data to the first and/or second primary UIs 204A-C (i.e. usingthe first and/or second view modules, respectively) so that the datareceived from the first primary UI 204A-C is presented in the secondview (e.g., simultaneous with the data being presented in the firstprimary UI 204A-C). The method 500 can include deactivating the firstprimary UI 204A-C, such as by a user actively deactivating (e.g.,powering off) the primary UI 204A-C or the application changingapplication state and the view model module 208 deactivating the viewmodule 206A-C communicatively coupled to the primary UI 204A-C. Themethod 500 can include, in response to receiving data indicative ofsecond data and a second command from a user interacting with the secondprimary UI 204A-C, changing the application state.

Stack Handling

Using a system with multiple primary UIs, the navigation stack of theUIs may operate differently than in a system that includes theone-to-one relationship between the application state and the UI view.Consider a multiple primary UI system where one of the primary UIs is avoice dialogue view and a “back” button is pressed. Using a navigationstack that saves only previous screen views, the navigation stack willcause a UI to provide a previous screen view, but not a repeat of aprevious voice dialogue view. A different navigation stack handlingtechnique can be used to help overcome this issue. A different stackhandling technique can help the multiple primary UIs remain insynchronization.

FIG. 6 illustrates, by way of example, a block diagram of an embodimentof a system 600, including multiple primary UIs 204A-C. The system 600can be similar to the system 200 with the system 600 including anavigation stack module 602, a navigation stack 604, and an operatingsystem (OS) 606 including an OS navigation stack 608. The navigationstack module 602 can manage the entries in the navigation stack 604 andthe OS navigation stack 608. The navigation stack module 602 can pushand pop entries onto and off of the navigation stack 608 and the OSnavigation stack 608.

The navigation stack 604 can be configured to store a workflow activityas an entry thereon. A “workflow activity” as used herein includes datacorresponding to a configuration of the view model module 208 and a listof views associated with the configuration. The data causes the viewmodel module 208 to perform one or more operations that causes theplurality of views to be presented on the multiple primary UIs 204A-C inresponse to the data being loaded on in the view model module 208. Thedata, in response to being loaded in the view model module 208, causesthe view model module to provide data and/or a request to the viewmodule(s) 206A-C to cause the view modules 206A-C to render a view onthe primary UI 204A-C.

The OS navigation stack 608, which may not be present in all OSs, storesscreen views displayed on a screen of an apparatus, such as a mobiledevice. FIG. 7 illustrates a flow diagram of operating system stacks 700using the system 100 to execute an application, such as an applicationthat includes the application states as shown in FIG. 3. In a systemthat includes a one-to-one relationship between an application and aprimary UI, such as the system 100, the navigation stack can be designedto only handle the previously presented screens using the UI. Forexample, as shown in FIG. 7, the OS navigation stack 608A reflects thestate of the OS navigation stack 608 after the application 102 has beeninitialized and the welcome application state 302 has been entered.After the select user application state 304 is entered, the select userscreen view can be pushed onto the stack, such as shown in the OSnavigation stack 608B. If a user were to press the back button at thispoint, the stack would be in the state as shown in the OS navigationstack 608A by popping the select user entry off the stack 608B. The UI104 would then show the view associated with the welcome applicationstate 302 of the application 102.

The OS navigation stack 608C reflects the state of the OS navigationstack 608 after an enter password entry has been pushed on the stack608B. The OS navigation stack 608D reflects the state of the OSnavigation stack 608 after a perform task entry has been pushed on thestack 608C. In general, if a user navigates to the previous screen, thelast entry in the stack is popped off and the entry prior the operationthat was popped is reflected using the UI 104.

As was previously discussed, if a voice dialogue view or other view isadded as another primary UI, the OS navigation stack is not able toreactivate the previous voice or other view. Without a new approach tothis stack methodology, it can be difficult if not impossible to keepthe primary UIs in synch as the application state is changed, such as bya user navigating to a previous view or interacting with the applicationto change the application state. By capturing an application statechange in a framework layer between the OS layer and the applicationlayer and managing the OS navigation stack 608 and the navigation stack604 from the framework layer.

The navigation stack module 602 manages the workflow activities storedon the navigation stack 604 and also overrides the OS navigation stack608 to maintain consistency between the views provided the OS navigationstack 608 and the views of the UI 204A-C. The navigation stack module602 can reside in the framework layer and manage the stacks.

In using multiple primary UIs 204A-C the navigation stack module 602 canmaintain the stack (i.e. the navigation stack 604 and/or the OSnavigation stack 608) such that each view provided by the primary UIs204A-C are consistent with each other and the application state.Consider a first primary UI that provides a visual view and a secondprimary UI that provides a voice dialogue view. If a user navigatesbackwards in the visual view, the voice dialogue view should alsopresent its previous view, such as dialogue previously presented usingthe second primary UI.

FIGS. 8 and 9 illustrate, by way of example, flow diagrams ofembodiments of navigation stack states 800 and corresponding OSnavigation stack states 900 using the navigation stack module 602. FIGS.8 and 9 show entries on the navigation stack 604 and the OS navigationstack 608 using an application that includes application states as shownin FIG. 3. The navigation stack module 602 manages the OS navigationstack 608A to be consistent with the navigation stack 604A, the OSnavigation stack 608B to be consistent with the navigation stack 608B,and so on.

The navigation stack 604A and the OS navigation stack 608A show thestacks after the application 202 has entered the “welcome” applicationstate 302. In response to the application state changing to the “selectuser” application state, a select user entry can be pushed onto therespective stacks 604A and 608A, such as shown in navigation stack 604Band OS navigation stack 608B. The navigation stack 604C and the OSnavigation stack 608C show the stacks after the application 202 hasentered the “enter password” state 306.

The OS navigation stack 608C includes only two entries at this point,namely “enter password” and “select user”. The navigation stack module602 can manage the entries on the OS navigation stack 608, such that atmost two entries are on the OS navigation stack 608 for an appreciableamount of time. By keeping two or more entries on the stack, ananimation or other transition between visual views of an applicationstate can be displayed, such as to keep the user experience as a usermight expect. The navigation stack module 602 can pop an entry off theOS navigation stack 608 and/or push an entry on the stack to manage theentries of the OS navigation stack 608. Note that not all OS 606 use OSnavigation stacks. For example, iOS devices do not use a navigationstack. In such an instance, the navigation stack module 602 may onlymanage the navigation stack 604.

The navigation stack 604D and the OS navigation stack 608D show thestacks after the application 202 has returned to the “select user”application state 302. The OS navigation stack 608 can be managed, suchthat the current application state and another application state arestored as entries thereon at a given time. The OS navigation stack 608can include an entry that corresponds to an application state that willbe loaded in response to a user navigating to a previous applicationstate using one or more of the primary UIs 204A-C.

In response to the application state changing back to the “enterpassword” application state 306, an enter password entry can be pushedonto the respective stacks 604D and 608D, such as shown in navigationstack 604E and OS navigation stack 608E. The navigation stack 604F andthe OS navigation stack 608F show the stacks after the application 202has entered the “perform task” state 308. The navigation stack module602 can push an entry onto the respective stacks that corresponds to anapplication state that has yet been entered by the application 202 (atleast in the current session of the application). The unperformedapplication state entry that was pushed on the respective stack in theexample of FIGS. 8 and 9 are “logout” entries. If a user were tonavigate to a previous screen while the application 202 is in the“perform task” application state 308, the logout entry would be loadedinto the view model module 208 and the OS 606 to provide the “logout”application state 310 view using the UIs 204A-C.

In one or more embodiments, a visual view can provide an event-driveninterface, while a dialogue view can be used for directed applicationnavigation. For example, a visual view can list a series of questions tobe answered by the user, while a voice dialogue view can provide theuser with one question at a time. If the next question in the list isanswered by the user using either of the voice dialogue view or thevisual view, then the next question can be presented to the user usingthe voice dialogue view. In such a case, the voice dialogue view and thevisual view can become out of sync. However, some rules may be definedto handle a case in which the user answers a question out of order usingthe visual view.

One or more synchronization techniques between the voice dialogue viewand the visual view can help overcome the synchronization issue. Since avoice dialogue view generally focuses on one item at a time, the visualview can include a highlight of the current voice dialogue viewapplication state being presented, such as to alert a user whichapplication state the voice dialogue view is presenting. If thehighlighted item is disposed of by the user using the voice dialogueview or the visual view, the next item in the list can be highlighted inthe visual view and presented to the user in the voice dialogue view.This highlights an example of a visual view persisting in response to anapplication state change while a voice dialogue changes across the sameapplication state change.

If the user disposes of a different item other than the highlighteditem, then the view model module 208 can be configured to perform avariety of operations including one or more of: (1) disabling the voicedialogue view (e.g., temporarily disabling); (2) causing a sound to beprovided to the user using the voice dialogue view, such as to indicateto the user that the previous item was disposed of out of order; (3)causing the voice dialogue view to present the highlighted applicationstate to the user; and (4) causing the voice dialogue view to presentthe application state after the application state that was disposed ofout of order in the list (or presenting a next application state notdisposed of in the list after the application that was disposed, such ascan include wrapping to the beginning of the list when the end of thelist is reached). In one or more embodiments, the user can indicate viaa voice keyword to re-synchronize with the other modes and/or whichapplication state to synchronize at. An application developer can use alibrary application programming interface (API), for example, to specifyhow the application 202 and the navigation stack module 602 are tohandle synchronization.

FIG. 10 illustrates, by way of example, an embodiment of a visual view1000 of an application that includes a plurality of steps 1002A, 1002B,1002C, 1002D, 1002E, 1002F, 1002G, 1002H, 1002I, and 1002J. Consider anapplication that includes a visual view that indicates to a user toperform the tasks (e.g., steps), such as the steps 1002A-J as shown inFIG. 10. In the example of FIG. 10, the user has completed steps 1002A-Cand step 1002D is highlighted to be completed next. However, instead ofcompleting step 1002D, the user has skipped to the step 1002H andcompleted that step out of order. The model 210 can be configured in avariety ways to handle such a situation. The model 210 can be configuredto resume from an application state corresponding to the step 1002I, tothe highlighted step 1002D, or can be configured to pause and not updatethe voice views until the user finishes all the steps, provides a voicecommand or otherwise resumes the application, such as by activating abutton on a visual view, or a specified period of time has passed.

A sound indicating that the user has performed a task out of order canbe presented to the user, such as through a voice dialogue view. If theuser were to complete the step 1002J out of order, the model 210 can beconfigured to update the application state to resume at the step 1002D(e.g., wrapping around to the next uncompleted step). A user can providea keyword command, such as “skip”, that causes data to be sent to themodel to update the application state to cause the view model to loadthe view associated with presenting the next step in the application.

In one or more embodiments, the navigation stack module 602 can managethe navigation stack 604 and/or the OS navigation stack 608 such that atany point in the application state “performing tasks”, such as thosedescribed with regard to FIG. 10, the logout screen can be presented inresponse to a user navigating backwards using any of the multipleprimary UIs 204A-C. In one or more other embodiments, the navigationstack module 602 can manage the navigation stack 604 and/or the OSnavigation stack 608 such that at any point in the application state ofperforming tasks, the task most recently completed can be reflected asnot completed in the primary UI(s) 204A-C and re-presented to the user.In such embodiments, if no tasks have been completed, the navigationstack 604 and the OS navigation stack 608 can be managed such that alogout application state is loaded into the view model module 208 andthen the welcome application state is loaded into the view model module208.

FIG. 11 illustrates, by way of example, a flow diagram of an embodimentof a method 1100 of handling one or more stacks. The method 1100 asillustrated includes: provide data to multiple primary UIs (e.g., theUIs 204A-C), at operation 1102; receiving data indicating theapplication state of the application has changed, at operation 1104; andpushing a workflow activity onto a navigation stack, at operation 1106.The data provided at operation 1102 can be provided using a view modelmodule of a software application. The data provided at operation 1102can cause each of the multiple primary UIs to present a view of anapplication state of the software application. The data received atoperation 1104 can be received at the view model module 208 (e.g., fromthe model 210). The operation at 1106 can be performed in response toperforming the operation at 1104. The operation at 1106 can beaccomplished using a navigation stack module 602 communicatively coupledto the software application 202. Each workflow activity can include datacorresponding to a configuration of the view model module 208 and a listof views associated with the configuration. The data of the workflowactivity can cause the view model module 208 to provide the data thatcauses the plurality of views to be presented on the multiple primaryUIs in response to the configuration being loaded on in the view modelmodule 208.

The method 1100 can include storing visual views to be presented using adisplay of the apparatus on an OS navigation stack 608 communicativelycoupled to the navigation stack module 602. The method 1100 can includemanaging the OS navigation stack 608, using the navigation stack module602, to keep the OS navigation stack 608 consistent with the navigationstack. The method 1100 can include, wherein managing the OS navigationstack 608 to keep the OS navigation stack 608 consistent with thenavigation stack 602 includes managing (using the navigation stackmodule 602) the OS navigation stack 608 such that at most two visualview entries are stored on the OS navigation stack 608. The method 1100can include, wherein managing the OS navigation stack 608 includesmanaging (using the navigation stack module 602) the OS navigation stack608 so that the visual views of the OS navigation stack 608 are visualviews from corresponding workflow activities and the visual views arestored on the OS navigation stack 608 in the same order as thecorresponding workflow activities are stored on the navigation stack604.

The method 1100 can include popping (using the navigation stack module602) a workflow activity onto the navigation stack 604 that was notpreviously performed by the application 202 in response to theapplication state changing. Popping the workflow activity on thenavigation stack 604 that was not previously performed includes poppinga logout workflow activity on the navigation stack 604.

The method 1100 can include receiving data indicating that a user isnavigating to a previous workflow activity (using the primary UIs204A-C). The operation at 1106 can include pushing the workflow activityonto the navigation stack that was not previously performed, in responsereceiving the data indicating that the user is navigating to theprevious workflow activity.

Application Development

FIG. 12 illustrates, by way of example, a block diagram of an embodimentof a system 1200 for application development. The system 1200 asillustrated includes a workflow activity repository, an applicationdevelopment module 1204, a view repository 1206, and an applicationmodel 1208.

The workflow activity repository 1202 can include an organized store ofworkflow activities that are available to a user in building amulti-primary UI application. The view repository 1206 can include anorganized store of views that are available to be associated with aworkflow. The workflow activity repository 1202 and the view repository1206 can be stored remote or local to the application developmentmodule. The workflow activity repository 1202 and the view repository1206 can provide an asset store of workflow activities and views thatcan be wired together and or associated with one another to buildworkflow-based applications for any platform and with arbitrary views.

The workflow activities of the workflow activity repository may belinked to other workflow activities, allowing an application to bedescribed by chaining together workflow activities. A new workflowactivity may be created and stored on the workflow activity repository1202, such as by an application developer using a software librarydescription of possible aspects of the workflow activities. Eachworkflow activity can include logic and views for each supportedplatform associated therewith. A workflow activity may be used in morethan one application. Linking workflow activities with transitions andviews can provide an application developer a way to create anapplication.

The application development module 1204 can receive data indicating theselected workflow activities and views to associate with those workflowactivities (as specified by a user) and produce the application model1208 using the received data. The application model 1208 can be loadedinto the model 210, such as to provide the functionality as specified bythe user in developing the application model 1208. The application model1208 can define application states so as to indicate state transitions.The state transitions can be dependent on a user interaction with aprimary UI, such as a user speaking or typing a specific phrase orscanning a specified object, for example.

The application model 1208 can be bound to a primary UI at build time orrun time. Using such a configuration can allow a variety of differentUIs to be bound to the application. Such a configuration can cause theapplication model 1208 to build or run differently on different buildsor runs. For example, if a first mobile device is being used as aprimary UI, the application model 1208 can be built or run differentlythan if a different mobile device is being used as the primary UI. Thedifferent runs or builds can account for differences in the differentprimary UIs that can be connected to the application. In this manner,the workflow activities can be independent of the presentation layer ofthe application (i.e. the primary UIs), the modes of input and/oroutput, the platform running the primary UIs, and/or the other workflowactivities. By binding the application to the presentation layer at runor build time, the different primary UIs can be used together orindependently to alter an application state of the application. Theapplication model 1208 produced by the application development modulecan include data defining an application including workflow activities,state transitions between workflow activities, and the associatedpresentation layer views. The data can be logged in a document that mayor may not be editable, such as an XML or a Java Script Object Notation(JSON) document. This document can be considered an “intermediaterepresentation”. An application developer can edit the intermediaterepresentation document to alter the application. Such a configurationcan help simplify business workflow application development. The XMLdocument data can be converted into code and compiled furthersimplifying the application development process.

FIG. 13 illustrates, by way of example, a block diagram of an embodimentof a UI 1300 that can be presented to a user developing a multi-primaryUI application. The UI 1300 can include a workbench 1302 on which a usercan organize workflow activities 1304A, 1304B, 1304C, and/or 1304D,define connections 1306A, 1306B, 1306C, 1306D, and/or 1306E between theworkflow activities 1304A-D, and associate views 1308A, 1308B, and/or1308C with the workflow activities 1304A-D. The workbench 1302 caninclude a list of available workflow activities 1310 and/or a list ofviews 1312 that can be associated with a workflow activity.

The Workflow Activities (WFAs) can be objects representing a givenworkflow activity, such that a user can select a WFA object from theavailable workflow activities 1310 and drag and drop the WFA object ontothe workbench 1302. The user can then define the connections 1306A-Ebetween workflow activities 1304A-D on the workbench 1302. Theconnections 1306A-E can indicate state transitions between workflowactivities 1304A-D. For example, the connection 1306A indicates that theapplication is to transition from workflow activity 1304A to 1304B inresponse to some event occurring in the workflow activity 1304A, such asthe workflow activity 1304A being completed. The connection 1306Bindicates that the application is to transition from workflow activity1304B to 1304C in response to the workflow activity 1304B beingcompleted the first time. The connection 1306E indicates that theapplication is to transition from workflow activity 1304B to 1304A inresponse to the workflow activity 1304B being completed a second time.

The views in the available views 1312 can be objects representing agiven view, such that a user can select a view object from the availableviews 1312 and drag and drop the view object onto a workflow activity1304A-D to associate the view with the workflow activity. The views1308A-C can include visual views, voice dialogue views, printer views,or other views that can be rendered on a primary UI. The views 1308A-Ccan be configurable, such that a user can define what is presented to auser when the associated workflow activity is performed. For example, ifa view is a visual view, such as the view 1308A-C, the user canassociate a graphic 1314A, 1314B, 1314C, 1314D, and/or 1314E (e.g., apicture, text, or a combination thereof, among others) with the view todefine what is presented to a user when the corresponding workflowactivity is presented. In another example, if a view is a voice dialogueview, the user can associate a dialogue 1316A, 1316B, and/or 1316C(e.g., text, a sound snippet, a recording, or a combination thereof,among others) that can be presented to the user when the correspondingworkflow activity is presented. For example, when the workflow activity1304A is presented to the user, the graphic 1314A and the dialogue 1316Acan be presented to the user simultaneously. An input box can bepresented to a user in response to a user selecting (e.g., touching on atouch screen, clicking using a mouse, hovering and pressing a button)the workflow activity 1304A-D, the graphic 1314A-E or the dialogue1316A-C. The user can then select a graphic, sound snippet, or entertext into the input that can be presented using the associated view.

The application model 1208 (e.g., the model 210) can include datadefining the transitions between the workflow activities (i.e.application states). The view model module 208 can include data definingthe views associated with the workflow activities defined by the user,such that if the model 1208 indicates to transition to workflow activity1304C, the view model module 208 knows what views are associated withthe workflow activity 1304C and can provide data to the view module206A-C that causes the view module 208 to render a view on a primary UI204A-C coupled thereto. The navigation stack module 602 can push and/orpop activities onto or off of the navigation stack 604 and/or the OSnavigation stack 608 so that the stacks remain consistent with thedeveloped application. For example, if a developer has indicated that ifa user navigates to a previous screen while workflow activity 1304C isbeing performed then workflow activity 1304B is presented, then thestack can manage the entries on the stack(s) to include the workflowactivity 1304B below the workflow activity 1304C on the stack(s).

The application model 1208 produced can include default rules that mayor may not be overridden by a developer. For example, a default rule caninclude that when performing a workflow activity and a user navigates toa previous screen the previous workflow activity can be displayed or alogout workflow activity can be displayed. Other default rules caninclude the application model 1208 including a welcome, a user name,and/or a password workflow activity on startup.

FIG. 14 illustrates, by way of example, a flow diagram of an embodimentof a method 1400 of application development. The method 1400 asillustrated includes: receiving data indicating a plurality of workflowactivities to be used in an application, at operation 1402; receivingdata indicating a plurality of primary UI views to associate with eachworkflow activity, at operation 1404; receive data indicating aconnection between two of the workflow activities of the plurality ofworkflow activities, at operation 1406; and producing an applicationmodel based on the received data, at operation 1408.

The method 1400 can include presenting the plurality of workflowactivities as objects that the user drags and drops onto a workbench ofthe application development environment and wherein the applicationdevelopment environment is configured to allow the user to draw theconnections between objects on the workbench. The operation at 1408 caninclude producing an extensible markup language (XML) documentdescription of the application model. The document description of theapplication model can be in another format other than XML, such as JSON.The document description of the application model can be in amachine-readable format. The method 1400 can include binding theapplication model to a plurality of primary UIs at run time or buildtime. The run or build of the application model can be different fordifferent primary UIs.

The method 1400 can include receiving data indicating a first view to beassociated with a first workflow activity of the plurality of workflowactivities and receiving data indicating a second view to be associatedwith the first workflow activity such that the first view and the secondview are presented simultaneously in response to the workflow activitybeing performed. The method 1400 can include receiving data indicating adialogue to be associated with a voice dialogue view of a first workflowactivity of the plurality of workflow activities and receiving dataindicating a text or a graphic to be associated with a visual view ofthe first workflow activity such that the visual view and the voicedialogue view are presented simultaneously when performing the workflowactivity. The method 1400 can include compiling the application modeland/or loading the application model into an application.

As used herein, “automatically” means without human input orinterference after deployment. For example, the view model moduleautomatically providing data to the view modules that causes the viewmodules to render a view of a workflow activity on a primary UI meansthat the view model module accomplishes these tasks without human inputor interference after the view model module is compiled and/or running.Any step of the methods discussed herein (e.g., the method 500, themethod 1100, and/or method 1400 can be performed automatically).

FIG. 15 illustrates, by way of example, a block diagram of an embodimentof a machine 1500 upon which any one or more of the methods discussedherein may be performed. In one or more embodiments, the primary UIs204A-C, the view module 206A-C, the view model module 208, theapplication model 210, the navigation stack module 602, the navigationstack 604, the OS 606, the OS navigation stack 608, the workflowactivity repository 1202, the application development module 1204, theview repository 1206, and/or the application model 1208 can include oneor more items of machine 1500. Machine 1500 can be embodied as acomputing device, providing operations of the application 202, theprimary UIs 204A-C, the view module 206A-C, the view model module 208,the application model 210, the navigation stack module 602, thenavigation stack 604, the OS 606, the OS navigation stack 608, theworkflow activity repository 1202, the application development module1204, the view repository 1206, and/or the application model 1208 or anyother processing or computing platform or component described orreferred to herein.

In alternative embodiments, the machine 1500 operates as a standalonedevice or can be connected (e.g., networked) to other machines. In anetworked deployment, the machine can operate in the capacity of eithera server or a client machine in server-client network environments, orit can act as a peer machine in peer-to-peer (or distributed) networkenvironments. The computer system machine can be a personal computer(PC), such as a PC that can be portable (e.g., a notebook or a netbook)or a PC that is not conveniently portable (e.g., a desktop PC), atablet, a set-top box (STB), a gaming console, a Personal DigitalAssistant (PDA), a mobile telephone or Smartphone, a web appliance, anetwork router, switch or bridge, or any machine capable of executinginstructions (sequential or otherwise) that specify actions to be takenby that machine. Further, while only a single machine is illustrated,the term “machine” shall also be taken to include any collection ofmachines that individually or jointly execute a set (or multiple sets)of instructions to perform any one or more of the methodologiesdiscussed herein.

Example machine 1500 can include a processor 1502 (e.g., a centralprocessing unit (CPU), a graphics processing unit (GPU) or both), a mainmemory 1504 and a static memory 1506, which communicate with each othervia an interconnect 1508 (e.g., a link, a bus, etc.). The machine 1500can further include a video display unit 1510, an alphanumeric inputdevice 1512 (e.g., a keyboard), and a user interface (UI) navigationdevice 1514 (e.g., a mouse). In one embodiment, the video display unit1510, input device 1512 and UI navigation device 1514 are a touch screendisplay. The machine 1500 can additionally include a storage device 1516(e.g., a drive unit), a signal generation device 1518 (e.g., a speaker),an output controller 1532, a power management controller 1534, or anetwork interface device 1520 (which can include or operably communicatewith one or more antennas 1530, transceivers, or other wirelesscommunications hardware), or one or more sensors 1528, such as a GPSsensor, compass, location sensor, accelerometer, or other sensor.

The storage device 1516 includes a machine-readable medium 1522 on whichis stored one or more sets of data structures and instructions 1524(e.g., software) embodying or utilized by any one or more of themethodologies or functions described herein. The instructions 1524 canalso reside, completely or at least partially, within the main memory1504, static memory 1506, and/or within the processor 1502 duringexecution thereof by the machine 1500, with the main memory 1504, staticmemory 1506, or the processor 1502 also constituting machine-readablemedia. The processor 1502 configured to perform an operation can includeconfiguring instructions of a memory or other machine-readable mediacoupled to the processor, which when executed by the processor, causethe processor 1502 to perform the operation.

While the machine-readable medium 522 is illustrated in an exampleembodiment to be a single medium, the term “machine-readable medium” caninclude a single medium or multiple media (e.g., a centralized ordistributed database, and/or associated caches and servers) that storethe one or more instructions 1524. The term “machine-readable medium”shall also be taken to include any tangible medium that is capable ofstoring, encoding or carrying instructions for execution by the machineand that cause the machine to perform any one or more of themethodologies of the present disclosure or that is capable of storing,encoding or carrying data structures utilized by or associated with suchinstructions. The term “machine-readable medium” shall accordingly betaken to include, but not be limited to, solid-state memories, opticalmedia, and magnetic media. Specific examples of machine-readable mediainclude non-volatile memory, including, by way of example, semiconductormemory devices (e.g., Electrically Programmable Read-Only Memory(EPROM), Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EEPROM))and flash memory devices; magnetic disks such as internal hard disks andremovable disks; magneto-optical disks; and CD-ROM and DVD-ROM disks.

The instructions 1524 can further be transmitted or received over acommunications network 1526 using a transmission medium via the networkinterface device 1520 utilizing any one of a number of well-knowntransfer protocols (e.g., HTTP). Examples of communication networksinclude a local area network (LAN), wide area network (WAN), theInternet, mobile telephone networks, Plain Old Telephone (POTS)networks, and wireless data networks (e.g., Wi-Fi, 3G, and 4G LTE/LTE-Aor WiMAX networks). The term “transmission medium” shall be taken toinclude any intangible medium that is capable of storing, encoding, orcarrying instructions for execution by the machine, and includes digitalor analog communications signals or other intangible medium tofacilitate communication of such software.

Additional Notes and Examples

The present subject matter can be described by way of several examples.

Example 1 can include or use subject matter (such as an apparatus, amethod, a means for performing acts, or a device readable memoryincluding instructions that, when performed by the device, can cause thedevice to perform acts), such as a workflow activity repositoryincluding a plurality of workflow activities stored thereon, whereineach workflow activity of the plurality of workflow activities includesdata corresponding to a configuration of a view model module and a listof views to be associated with the configuration. The data causes theview model module to perform one or more operations that cause aplurality of views of the list of views to be presented on multipleprimary user interfaces in response to the data being loaded into theview model module. An application development module is communicativelycoupled to the workflow activity repository. The application developmentmodule is configured to cause a view of an application being built usingthe application development module to be displayed to a user. Theapplication development module is configured to provide an environmentin which a user defines connections between workflow activities of theplurality of workflow activities and produces an application model basedon the user-defined connections and the workflow activities connected bythe connections.

Example 2 can include or use, or can optionally be combined with thesubject matter of Example 1 to include or use, an applicationdevelopment module configured to cause a display to present the workflowactivities as objects which the user can drag and drop onto a workbenchand allow the user to draw connections between objects on the workbench.

Example 3 can include or use, or can optionally be combined with thesubject matter of at least one of Examples 1-2 to include or use, anapplication development module configured to produce an extensiblemarkup language (XML) document or JSON document description of theapplication model.

Example 4 can include or use, or can optionally be combined with thesubject matter of at least one of Examples 1-3 to include or use, anapplication model configured to be bound to a primary user interface atrun time or build time, and a run or build of the application model isdifferent for different primary user interfaces.

Example 5 can include or use, or can optionally be combined with thesubject matter of at least one of Examples 1-4 to include or use, one ormore workflow activities of the plurality of workflow activities thatare configurable so that a user configures a dialog to be presentedusing a voice dialogue view and text or a graphic to be presented usinga visual view simultaneous with the voice dialogue view.

Example 6 can include or use, or can optionally be combined with thesubject matter of at least one of Examples 1-5 to include or use, a viewrepository communicatively coupled to an application development module,wherein the environment further allows a user to associate one or moreviews with a workflow activity, wherein each view module defines a typeof view to be provided in response to the workflow activity beingperformed.

Example 7 can include or use, or can optionally be combined with thesubject matter of at least one of Examples 1-6 to include or use, aplurality of workflow activities that include platform, view, userinterface, and application independent.

Example 8 can include or use subject matter (such as an apparatus, amethod, a means for performing acts, or a device readable memoryincluding instructions that, when performed by the device, can cause thedevice to perform acts), that can include or use receiving, at anapplication development environment, data indicating a plurality ofworkflow activities to be used in an application, each of the workflowactivities including data corresponding to a configuration of a viewmodel module and a list of views to be associated with theconfiguration; and receiving, at the application developmentenvironment, data indicating a plurality of primary user interface viewsto associate with each of the workflow activities; and receiving, at theapplication development environment, data indicating a connectionbetween two of the workflow activities of the plurality of workflowactivities; and producing an application model based on the receiveddata indicating the plurality of workflow activities, the data indicatesthe connection between two of the workflow activities and the dataindicating the plurality of primary user interface views.

Example 9 can include or use, or can optionally be combined with thesubject matter of Example 8 to include or use, presenting the pluralityof workflow activities as objects which the user can drag and drop ontoa workbench of the application development environment and allow theuser to draw the connections between objects on the workbench.

Example 10 can include or use, or can optionally be combined with thesubject matter of at least one of Examples 8-9 to include or use,producing the application model includes producing an extensible markuplanguage (XML) document description of the application model.

Example 11 can include or use, or can optionally be combined with thesubject matter of at least one of Examples 8-10 to include or use,binding the application model to a plurality of primary user interfacesat run time or build time, and wherein a run or build, respectively, ofthe application model is different for different primary userinterfaces.

Example 12 can include or use, or can optionally be combined with thesubject matter of at least one of Examples 8-11 to include or use,receiving data indicating a first view to be associated with a firstworkflow activity of the plurality of workflow activities and receivingdata indicating a second view to be associated with the first workflowactivity such that the first view and the second view are presentedsimultaneously in response to the workflow activity being performed.

Example 13 can include or use, or can optionally be combined with thesubject matter of at least one of Examples 8-12 to include or use, afirst workflow activity that includes a voice dialogue view and a visualview, wherein the method further comprises receiving data indicating adialog to be associated with the voice dialogue view and receiving dataindicating a text or a graphic to be associated with the visual view.

Example 14 can include or use, or can optionally be combined with thesubject matter of at least one of Examples 8-13 to include or use,compiling the application model and loading the application model intoan application.

In this document, the terms “a” or “an” are used, as is common in patentdocuments, to include one or more than one, independent of any otherinstances or usages of “at least one” or “one or more.” In thisdocument, the term “or” is used to refer to a nonexclusive or, such that“A or B” includes “A but not B,” “B but not A,” and “A and B,” unlessotherwise indicated. In this document, the terms “including” and “inwhich” are used as the plain-English equivalents of the respective terms“comprising” and “wherein.” Also, in the following claims, the terms“including” and “comprising” are open-ended, that is, a system, device,article, composition, formulation, or process that includes elements inaddition to those listed after such a term in a claim are still deemedto fall within the scope of that claim. Moreover, in this document, theterms “first,” “second,” and “third,” etc. are used merely as labels,and are not intended to impose numerical requirements on their objects.

From the foregoing, it will be observed that numerous variations andmodifications can be effected without departing from the spirit andscope of the invention. It is to be understood that no limitation withrespect to the specific apparatus illustrated herein is intended orshould be inferred. It is, of course, intended to cover by the appendedclaims all such modifications as fall within the scope of the claims.

To supplement the present disclosure, this application incorporatesentirely by reference the following patents, patent applicationpublications, and patent applications:

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8,918,564; 8,925,818;

8,939,374; 8,942,480;

8,944,313; 8,944,327;

8,944,332; 8,950,678;

8,967,468; 8,971,346;

8,976,030; 8,976,368;

8,978,981; 8,978,983;

8,978,984; 8,985,456;

8,985,457; 8,985,459;

8,985,461; 8,988,578;

8,988,590; 8,991,704;

8,996,194; 8,996,384;

9,002,641; 9,007,368;

9,010,641; 9,015,513;

9,016,576; 9,022,288;

9,030,964; 9,033,240;

9,033,242; 9,036,054;

9,037,344; 9,038,911;

9,038,915; 9,047,098;

9,047,359; 9,047,420;

9,047,525; 9,047,531;

9,053,055; 9,053,378;

9,053,380; 9,058,526;

9,064,165; 9,064,167;

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Although a few embodiments have been described in detail above, othermodifications are possible. For example, the logic flows depicted in thefigures do not require the particular order shown, or sequential order,to achieve desirable results. Other steps can be provided, or steps canbe eliminated, from the described flows, and other components can beadded to, or removed from, the described systems. Other embodiments canbe within the scope of the following claims.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A system comprising: a memory database communicatively coupled to a processor, the memory database comprising: a workflow activity repository comprising a plurality of workflow activities stored thereon and configured to be used in an application comprising a plurality of application states, wherein respective workflow activities of the plurality of workflow activities are associated with respective application states of the plurality of application states, and wherein each workflow activity of the plurality of workflow activities comprises data corresponding to a configuration of a view model module and a list of views to be associated with the configuration of the view model module, the processor being configured to receive the data and instruct the view model module to perform an operation that causes: a first view of the list of views to persist and to remain synchronized across a plurality of user interfaces, in response to an application state change of the application, and a second view of the list of views to change in response to the application state change of the application, wherein the first view comprises a highlighted portion to indicate the change in the second view in response to the application state change.
 2. The system of claim 1, wherein the memory database further comprises: an application development module communicatively coupled to the workflow activity repository, the processor being further configured to execute instructions from the application development module to cause a view of the application being built using the application development module to be displayed to a user, the application development module being configured to provide an environment in which the user defines connections between the workflow activities of the plurality of workflow activities and produce an application model based on user-defined connections and the workflow activities connected by the connections.
 3. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one workflow activity of the plurality of workflow activities is configurable so that a user configures a dialog to be presented using a voice dialogue view and a text or a graphic to be presented using a visual view simultaneous with the voice dialogue view.
 4. The system of claim 3, wherein the voice dialogue view persists through the application state change, while the visual view changes in response to the application state change and the application state changes in response to a change of the visual view.
 5. The system of claim 4, wherein the voice dialogue view is presented to a user through a user interface that comprises a speaker and a microphone, and the visual view is presented to the user through the user interface that comprises at least one of a display, a keyboard, a printer that displays or prints, a monitor, or a barcode scanner.
 6. The system of claim 1, further comprising a view repository communicatively coupled to an application development module that is configured to allow a user to associate the first view with a workflow activity, and a view module that defines a type of view to be provided in response to the workflow activity being performed.
 7. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of workflow activities are at least one of platform independent, view independent, user interface independent, and application independent.
 8. The system of claim 1, further comprising: a navigation stack module to maintain a OS navigation stack such that each view provided by the plurality of user interfaces are consistent with each other and an application state, wherein the OS navigation stack comprises an entry that corresponds to the application state that will be loaded in response to a user navigating to a previous application state using at least one of the plurality of user interfaces.
 9. A method comprising: receiving, at an application development environment stored in a memory database, data indicating a plurality of workflow activities to be used in an application comprising a plurality of application states, wherein respective workflow activities of the plurality of workflow activities are associated with respective application states of the plurality of application states, and wherein each of the workflow activities comprises data corresponding to a configuration of a view model module and a list of views to be associated with the configuration of the view model module; receiving, at the application development environment, data indicating a plurality of separate and independent user interface views to associate with each of the workflow activities; receiving, at the application development environment, data indicating a connection between two of the workflow activities of the plurality of workflow activities; producing with a processor coupled to the memory database, an application model based on the received data indicating the plurality of workflow activities, the data indicating the connection between the two of the workflow activities, and the data indicating the plurality of separate and independent user interface views; and configuring, with the processor, the application so that the application is executable by the processor for causing: a first view of the list of views to persist and to remain synchronized across a plurality of user interfaces, in response to an application state change of the application, and a second view of the list of views to change in response to the same application state change of the application, wherein the first view comprises a highlight portion to indicate the change in the second view in response to the application state change.
 10. The method of claim 9, further comprising receiving data indicating the first view to be associated with a first workflow activity of the plurality of workflow activities and receiving data indicating the second view to be associated with the first workflow activity such that the first view and the second view are presented simultaneously in response to the first workflow activity being performed.
 11. The method of claim 10, wherein the first workflow activity comprises a voice dialogue view and a visual view, and wherein the method further comprises: receiving data indicating a dialog to be associated with the voice dialogue view and receiving data indicating a text or a graphic to be associated with the visual view.
 12. The method of claim 11, wherein the voice dialogue view persists through the application state change, while the visual view changes in response to the application state change and the application state changes in response to a change of the visual view.
 13. The method of claim 11, further comprising: presenting the application that comprises the visual view that indicates to a user to perform a list of tasks, wherein when the user skips a task from the list of tasks, then to: pause and not update voice views until the user finishes all the list of tasks; and provide a sound indicating that the user has performed a task out of order and present to the user, such as through the voice dialogue view.
 14. The method of claim 9, further comprising: providing first data to a first UI at operation; providing second data to a second UI at operation; and changing an application state at operation and providing data to change the first and second views provided by the first and second Uls.
 15. The method of claim 14, further comprising: deactivating a view module communicatively coupled to the first UI and changing the application state with the second UI in response to receiving data indicative of the second data and a second command from a user.
 16. A non-transitory computer readable storage device comprising instructions stored thereon that, when executed by a machine, configure the machine to perform an operation comprising: receiving data indicating a plurality of workflow activities to be used in an application comprising a plurality of application states, wherein respective workflow activities of the plurality of workflow activities are associated with respective application states of the plurality of application states, and wherein each of the workflow activities comprises data corresponding to a configuration of a view model module and a list of views to be associated with the configuration of the view model module; receiving data indicating a plurality of separate and independent user interface views to associate with each of the workflow activities; receiving data indicating a connection between two of the workflow activities of the plurality of workflow activities; producing an application model based on the received data indicating the plurality of workflow activities, the data indicating the connection between the two of the workflow activities and the data indicating the plurality of separate and independent user interface views; and configuring the application so that the application is executable by a processor for causing: a first view of the list of views to persist and to remain synchronized across a plurality of user interfaces, in response to an application state change of the application, and a second view of the list of views to change, in response to the same application state change of the application, wherein the first view comprises a highlighted portion to indicate the change in the second view in response to the application state change.
 17. The non-transitory computer readable storage device of claim 16, further comprising instructions that, when executed by the machine, configure the machine to perform an operation comprising receiving data indicating the first view to be associated with a first workflow activity of the plurality of workflow activities and receiving data indicating the second view to be associated with the first workflow activity such that the first view and the second view are presented simultaneously in response to the first workflow activity being performed.
 18. The non-transitory computer readable storage device of claim 17, wherein the first workflow activity comprises a voice dialogue view and a visual view, and wherein the instructions further comprise instructions that, when executed by the machine, configure the machine to perform an operation comprising receiving data indicating a dialog to be associated with the voice dialogue view and receiving data indicating a text or a graphic to be associated with the visual view.
 19. The non-transitory computer readable storage device of claim 18, wherein the voice dialogue view persists through the application state change, while the visual view changes in response to the application state change and the application state changes in response to a change of the visual view. 